How do these sketchy, third-party warranty companies know I bought a new vehicle? (1 Viewer)

[SteelWorker]

I took delivery of a 2025 Lux six weeks ago. Today I got the third (USPS) junkmail letter offering a warranty. I'm guessing they use state registration data for newly titled vehicles, but I assumed that was not made public.

The white envelope has a message printed on the outside "RESPONSE OT THIS NOTICE REQUESTED." A toddler could tell it's nothing official.

The one-page letter starts with "Attention RetiredSteelWorker, our records indicate you have not contacted us to secure a vehicle service agreement for your 2025 VEHICLE." No kidding.

Who in their right mind entrusts money to these companies? This particular company is named Sky Protection, in Schaumburg, IL. Here's a BBB review, 1.5 stars.

 

[SFLGX]

Many different ways. Your dealer could be selling sales data, your bank (if you took out a loan) could be selling data, or even your insurance company when you add the new car to your policy. All of these entities probably sell your info to data brokers who aggregate it and sell it off to other companies who are looking to buy the data. Hell even when you go through the initial process of setting up the car with your info, setting up the SiriusXM trial, etc, all of those are touch points with personal information that can be sold. In some cases you are notified that they will sell your data without an option to prevent it, unless you just refuse to do business with them.

In our modern world there’s no way to escape it, Europe at least has some GDPR protections, but the worlds a big place and there are plenty of unscrupulous players out there that don’t care about laws or privacy.

State registration data is usually limited and not accessible.

 

[Bluegill]

I feel bad for people who actually pay good money for these crap warranties and then experience the frustration of trying to actually use the warranty. There is always some reason to deny any & every claim.